Are you losing customers?

If you’re not using social media effectively for your business, then you are losing customers.

Social media is a powerful tool which small businesses seem to overlook. Retailers have seen up to 133% increases in their revenues thanks to social media – so can you afford to neglect it?

Social media has become engrained in everyday life, and people are more connected than ever. Next time you’re in a public place count the number of people glued to their phones, I bet you’ll lose count. Worldwide nearly 75% of mobile phone owners access online content via their phones, and that number is rising. Big businesses are not the only ones that are benefiting from social media, small shops and businesses are also aware of the power of social media and are jumping on the band wagon.

What is Social media?

Most people will tell you social media means “sites like Facebook and Twitter”, but what actually makes Facebook and Twitter social media websites. Neti (2011) defines social media as “any website which allows user to share their content, opinions, views and encourages interaction and community building”. With this definition in mind, forums and blogs can also be classed as social media sites. Blogs often allow readers to comment and encourage discussion, while forums allow people with shared interests to interact.

Benefits of social media to businesses

Increase probability of generating revenue

Increased brand reach and awareness

Social media enables businesses to

Interact with customers

Share knowledge

Manage brand reputation

Run highly targeted advertising campaigns

Getting started on social media

So we’ve convinced you that your business needs to utilise social media, but where do you start? All of the most popular social media sites differ from each other; this means you must adopt a different marketing approach on each one in order to promote your business.

Facebook – Facebook allows users to create detailed business pages. You can promote products and services by uploading videos and photos. Facebook pages allow you to display testimonials too.

Twitter – Twitter allows you to promote your product via short messages (140 character limit). Twitter is great for interacting with customers , for example many large companies use twitter for customer support.

Google+ – Similar features to Facebook, with the added bonus of being integrated into Google’s search engine

Linkedin – Professional business-related networking site. A company site on Linkedin will allow you to show case your business and grow your business network. You can also create a professional profile for yourself and grow your own professional network.

Instagram – Instagram is a hidden gem, studies have found that user engagement on Instagram canbe up to 15 times greater than Facebook. Instagram is a picture sharing site that your business should be using to push visual rich marketing campaigns.

Youtube – What started as a video sharing website filled with cats doing funny things has now become the world’s second largest search engine. Youtube allows you to upload videos to share with the world, making it a great place to market your products and services. If you have the budget, you could even have a video you created appear before another video in the form of an advert.

How can we help

You now know that social media is important for your business. We have given you a list social media sites your business could be on to reach your customers. But how do you run successful marketing campaigns across multiple social media channels (not to mention find the time)? That’s where we come in. At Ferry Cake we offer a high level, strategic social media package that will benefit you and your business.

Sound like something you’re interested in? Get in touch and we’ll help you achieve increased brand visibility, traffic to your website and sales with our very effective strategic social media package. Read Ferry Cake Marketing and PR testimonials on what previous or current clients have said about their marketing support here.

This website uses cookies to allow us to see how the site is used. The cookies cannot identify you. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with this. If you want to use the sites without cookies or would like to know more: Cookie Policy